The wild nature of Cyprus in Pafos

The natural abundance of Cyprus that defies perception and climate change

We can’t only leave it to nature to defy and challenge the evidences of how climate change is affecting our environment. In spite of the repetitive signals about the ever present sunshine in Cyprus reinforcing the perception of Cyprus as a warm and dry island, it is a limiting view of how actually gifted the island is by nature.

It does come to a pleasant surprise, that in the back country of Western Cyprus, it is still possible today, to travel to the home of wild Tulips, a precious symbol of abundance in the eastern Mediterranean.

Cyprus is indeed gifted by Nature. The tulip of Pafos, Oculus Solis, gets its name from its orange with a black eye in the centre is Oculus Solis, meanig the eye of the sun. It can be found in big numbers in the fields around Polemi and Stroumbi vilage, only a few kilometres away from Paphos.

This is actually one of the two species of wild tulips that grow in Cyprus. The other one, Tulipa Cypria , a dark red tulip, is an endemic variety and can be found in small numbers in the Akamas Peninsula. They are both protected flowers, and as such, in Polemi each year, a festival is held in the name of these flowers. Honoring this abundance in complete traditional intimacy, with kids, has a highlight when the moment arrives where the crowd walks toward the fields colored by wild tulips. Then, its back to the taverna for dancing and food in a complete Cypriot hospitality – it’s a typical afternoon of Cypriot openess in good company made special by the temporal harmony with nature. This also a reality in Cyprus; and it can be experienced every April.